This blog is for everyone who uses words.

The ordinary-sized words are for everyone, but the big ones are especially for children.



Monday, 2 February 2015

Spot the Frippet: something crumbly.

All sorts of things are crumbly: rock, cheese, one's New Years resolutions.

The perfect crumbly-topped pudding can be made by stirring a spoonful of cornflour and perhaps some sugar into some fruit, and then topping it with 3oz butter rubbed into 6oz flour, 2 teaspoons of ginger, 4oz ground almonds and 4oz demerara sugar, and then cooking it at 180C for about half an hour or so.

File:Apple and Blackcurrant crumble.JPG
photo Goddards Pies Ltd  ...though actually the crumble here doesn't look all that, well, crumbly, does it. Ah well.

If you're no cook, then in Britain a crumbly is an affectionate insult. It describes an old person.

They're generally not too fast-moving, so they're easy enough to spot.



Spot the Frippet: something crumbly. This word used to be crimble, and is probably from some German language. Before that it was perhaps something to do with the Latin grūmus, a heap of earth.

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments are very welcome, but please make them suitable for The Word Den's family audience.